COASTAL STEAMERS

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 59, 7 September 1917, Page 8

COASTAL STEAMERS

TROUBLE REGARDING CONDITIONS

SEAMEN REFUSE TO SAIL.

Tliis morning men on a number of coastal steamers in Wellington gave notice to the masters that they would not sail to-night unless two men were employed in a watch. So far, the vessels involved are the Kaitoa, which was to have sailed at 2 p.m., the Huia, Queen of the South, Opawa, and Blenheim. This is the outcome of the disagreement which arose recently regarding the interpretation of the eight-hours' clause in the new seamen's agreement. Conferences were held this week between the Seamen's Union and the Shipowners' Association, but without any agreement being arrived at, and the shipowners proposed to settle the question by taking a case to the Arbitration Court for interpretation. Speaking to a Post reporter, the chairman of the Shipowners' Committee (Mr. Deck) stated that the number of men to be employed in a watch had not previously been the subject of any demand by the men, nor had. it even been mentioned at the recent conferences. It had been the custom for some time to have orily one man on watch on the smaller vessels, and no question of safety was involved. The men had not previously advanced any such plea. Nominally, prior to the coming into operation of the new agreement, there were two men on watch, bvit generally one remained at the wheel and the other "turned in." When the new agreement came into force imposing more rigid conditions as to hours, the shipowners discontinued the practice of paying a man for time spent in his bunk. The legal requirement as to men leaving vessels is that they shall give 24 hours' notice. If, as appears to be the case in this instance, the men are refusing to proceed to sea to-night after notice given this morning, they have apparently brought themselves within tlie scope of this provision of the statute. The facts have been placed before the Minister of Marine (Hon. G. W. Bussell) by the Shipowners' Association, and the Minister is now considering the matter. In the meantime it would appear that the coastal service is likely to bo interrupted. The secretary of the Seamen's Union (Mr. W. T. Young) being away from Wellington, a full statement of the facts from the seamen's point of view could not be obtained. A representative of the men, however, stated that they wero taking action because they considered the present practice dangerous to seafarers and travellers using the steamers. Formerly it was regarded as necessary to have a man at the look-out as well as at the wheel, but lately the shipowners had done away with the look-out. The man at the wheel, with his eyes on the compass, was blinded, so to speak, and could not keep a proper lo^k-out.